Make Britain Imaginative Again – talk by Rob Hopkins

As part of Volunteer Cornwall‘s 40th Anniversary Celebrations, in partnership with The University of Exeter, they invited Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement, to deliver a Croust Talk entitled ‘Make Britain Imaginative Again’ on Wednesday 28th November at Tremough Campus.

Rob gave an inspiring presentation back in the early days of Transition Falmouth (2007), and has visited Cornwall several times since so we were all well aware that this event was definitely not to be missed!

He is currently writing a book about imagination, its neglected role in our society, and why it is so vital to re-imagining and rebuilding our communities from the grass roots up.

In the talk on Wednesday he explored why our collective imagination is currently so impoverished, and what restoring the primary role of imagination in our educational system, media, activism and politics might look like, for example:

If you ran for Prime Minister on a platform of ‘Make Britain Imaginative Again’, what would your policies be?

Is climate change the greatest failure of the imagination in the history of the world, and if so, why might that be?

Several of us from Transition Falmouth, and other local Transition groups were there and thoroughly enjoyed Rob’s scintillating, thought provoking and entertaining talk which included active participation from those present.

The subsequent extended gathering in the Stannary bar afterwards was a great opportunity to meet up with friends old and new.

It would be great to have a follow-up event for the excellent community groups represented.

For those who couldn’t make it, here is a link to a video of a shorter but similar talk that Rob gave in Brussels back in June, though to a rather more corporate audience.

Rob’s website https://www.robhopkins.net is essential reading and has several recent articles about projects featured in his talk. as well as several other videos on this page – I found the brief talk he gave to Triodos bank especially inspiring.